Additional Kitchen Storage

Hey Y’all!! Today we are talking storage, more specifically kitchen storage! God bless it, does any kitchen really ever have enough storage?! Sure, there might be a rare kitchen or two out there, kissed by a professional’s touch right from the get-go. Those kitchens are a storage fairy tale come true. But for every kitchen blessed with ample storage there’s a whole mess of kitchens that just don’t quite measure up, struggling to serve us like they ought to! (Mine’s no exception, but someday….)

Now, let me tell you, there are a couple items I hear in client consultations over and over again. Adding more storage makes the list in the top five request! If you are like me and many clients, we all have special serving pieces, family treasure pieces, holiday dishes, kitchen odds ‘n’ ends we don’t use on the daily but good gracious would not dream of parting ways with them. (Lord,I have all of them too!) And wouldn’t you know it, those items are the trickiest to find a place for. What is the solution? Is it to tear down the existing kitchen and start over? Well, I’d probably say not in many cases.

Now, If budget wasn’t leading the dance, then maybe we would all be singing a different tune. But, more often than not the budget is the main act. Of course, if you go gut that kitchen and start over, surviving that major kitchen remodel is quite a bit of hoopla, to say the least. Complete kitchen overhauls can leave you kitchen-less depending on your contractor for weeks and stretching into months. And let me tell you, living without a kitchen is just not practical for most modern families. (And sure not happening with my crazy clan!)

So, what’s one to do? Well, you have to get creative in using existing space to work double time for you. While this is not for every client and kitchen, it has served me well for many clients. Adding cabinets to existing layouts and then refinishing all the cabinets to match gives your storage a real boost.

If you have dead space lingering above your cabinets, adding a second row of stacked cabinets is sure fire way to wrestle up great usable storage.

SO let me share a sweet secret with y’all! Additional stacked upper cabinets provide the perfect place to tuck away those items not frequently used in the kitchen. Store your cherished family crystal, or fancy serving platters that you only pull out on special occasions (or if your like me, for a good party). Store the extra water bottles you only use when your favorite has gone MIA. Or maybe if you are like so many others, the overflow of collectible coffee cups from all your travels are best suited a little higher up where they are less likely to be broken.

I had the sweetest client and she loved to cook and bake. She had a whole mess of specialty items that she had to store in her guest room and garage because they had no place to call home. Her kitchen was run of the mill builder grade which did not offer enough space to store all her baking needs. Can you imagine how inconvenient to run out to the garage and dig around in the dust to find what she needed?

With her grand ceilings and petite upper cabinets, I knew this kitchen was needing some charm from stacked upper cabinets. Now, I am so blessed, I have a cabinet wizard I work with repeatedly. He is amazing working his magic matching door styles and crafting cabinet frames to fit like a glove with the ones already in place. This was a much better option than replacing all the cabinets in the kitchen. And the best part? It was a fraction of the cost compared to tossing the existing cabinets and installing all new.

Once our cabinet wizard worked his magic and the new cabinets were in, we refinished the existing cabinetry and new pre primed cabinetry all together in the clients preferred color combinations along with sprinkling some other new upgrades to the kitchen and eliminated her storage issues.

While I love stacked upper cabinets for functional storage, another thing is stacked cabinets that show off some of those items that make a heart happy. Installing that additional row of cabinets can provide the perfect protected space to display collectibles, pottery, family heirlooms and artwork in the kitchen. Glass front doors on stacked cabinets help to maintain an open feeling in the space but also keep it classy and elegant while having your cherished pieces on full display.

Additionally adding glass front cabinets above is a great way to modernize the kitchen without a complete overhaul and also a creative trick when trying to match existing doors profiles that are discontinued or hard to find.

Now, if all this additional storage doesn’t get your heart dancing, I don’t know what will. We have saved money, used creativity and added class and charm. So, when life gives you a kitchen with more stuff than space, get inventive, call on a trusty cabinet whiz and a professional cabinet refinisher and give that kitchen a touch of charm.